KISS's PAUL STANLEY Says 'It Makes Perfect Sense' That So Many Other Veteran Rock Bands Are Also Retiring

KISS frontman Paul Stanley says that he is not surprised to see so many farewell tours and retirements afoot, involving a lot of big names in the rock world. "It actually makes logical sense," he tells the Detroit Free Press. "It's not a coincidence. Because many of these acts, artists and entertainers are from the same general time frame or generation. So it makes perfect sense. There are some who are drawing a purely nostalgic audience of older people."

He continued: "I'm incredibly gratified to see that our audience spans three generations. I always like to know, during a show, how many people are seeing us for the first time. That's important. There is a legend, if you will, of this band KISS, and there are still people coming for the first time, to see if it's worthy of that legend. And by end of the show, if not sooner, it's really clear to everybody that most don't want to see this end."

Over the past couple of years, we've seen a flurry of farewell tours, more than ever before, from BLACK SABBATH to SLAYER to LYNYRD SKYNYRD.

KISS's "End Of The Road" farewell tour launched in late January in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The first leg of the global trek, which could last three years, will wrap April 13 in Birmingham, Alabama.

The KISS lineup on the "End Of The Road" tour features the current version of the band — Stanley, fellow co-founding bandmember Gene Simmons on bass and vocals, Tommy Thayer on guitar and Eric Singer on drums. As has been the case with all of KISS's tours since 1996, the band is in full makeup, though Thayer and Singer are replacements for original members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, respectively.

In addition to the North American leg, European and Australian and New Zealand dates were recently announced, wrapping up at the beginning of December.